


Firestorm

by SoulSlayer



Series: Changing Our Destiny - Season 2 (A Destiny AU) [7]
Category: Destiny (Video Games)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-24
Updated: 2020-06-24
Packaged: 2021-03-04 03:09:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,003
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24896716
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SoulSlayer/pseuds/SoulSlayer
Summary: Being a Vanguard is a stressful job. But it becomes ten times harder when you're left in charge of a troublesome Kinderguardian. So when Jade Hydrani, a prideful yet stubborn Warlock, starts causing trouble for other Guardians, Rae is left in charge of teaching the troublemaker some discipline. Little does she know that Jade is the least of her problems.
Relationships: Cayde-6/Female Guardian (Destiny)
Series: Changing Our Destiny - Season 2 (A Destiny AU) [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1777495
Kudos: 2





	1. Dreams of Doubt & Darkness

Rae groaned as she tried to get up from her face-down position on the floor. She stared in horror at the bodies around her – all of them people she knew. Blaze, Adam, Marcia, Ikora, Zavala, all people she cared about. “No…no, no, no…” Rae breathed in horror, not wanting to believe the scene in front of her. She stared ahead and saw a weakened and battered Cayde trying to crawl away. Above him, Ace of Spades in hand, was her with a malicious smirk – the same one Rae’s doppelganger wore back on the Moon. She briefly glanced at the real Rae and chuckled darkly before pointing the Ace at Cayde. “No! Stop-!” Rae went to lunge at her fake self but felt herself being dragged backwards. She looked over her shoulder to see tendrils of Darkness dragging her into the shadows. “No! Please, no! Don’t!” Rae cried as she franticly clawed at the ground, desperate to break free and get to Cayde as darkness began to cloud her vision.

##  **_*BANG!*_ **

**“NO!!”**

Rae sat up with a jolt, breathing heavily. “Rae! What’s wrong? Are you okay?” Ghost appeared beside Rae as he glanced around for what may have caused Rae to call out. Rae felt her heart-rate begin to slow as she realised that she was in her room. “Y-yeah, I’m okay…” Rae muttered as she tried to calm her breathing. “It was that dream again, wasn’t it?” Ghost asked, realising there was no immediate danger. “It keeps getting worse…” Rae pulled her knees to her chest. Ghost floated over to Rae and nuzzled against her cheek; his own way of giving Rae a hug. “Thanks, Little Light.” Rae gave a small smile. “No problem.” Ghost nodded as he floated back a bit, “Want to go out for some air?”

“Yes please.”

* * *

After having Ghost transmat her armour on, Rae walked out into the Bazaar. It was around 2am and there weren’t any Guardians about. Most were on late-night missions, resting from the day’s activities or at bars and Hunter dens. Rae walked over to Ikora’s post, looking out at the Traveller. _‘She must be asleep too. That or she’s in the library.’_ Rae thought to herself as she leaned on the railing. Rae ran her hand through her hair as she let out a sigh.

“Someone’s up late.”

Rae jumped a little before turning to face where the voice came from. Cayde walked down the steps towards Rae. “Oh, uh…yeah. I had trouble sleeping.” Rae replied, “What about you?”

“A little light told me you needed a handsome Hunter to cheer you up.” Cayde chuckled, “Well…actually a little light told my little light who told me ‘Rae needs your dorky butt to cheer her up’.”

“Guilty as charged!” Sundance popped into view from behind Cayde before disappearing again, earning a small laugh from Rae. “But for real, what’s up?” Cayde asked as he leaned on the railing beside Rae, “I can tell something’s eating you.” Rae stayed silent for a moment before muttering, “I’ve…been having nightmares.”

“Wanna talk about it?”

Rae seemed hesitant at first until Cayde placed a hand on her shoulder along with a reassuring look. That’s what Rae always found fascinating about Exos in general. Despite the limited facial expressions they could make, you could still tell what they were trying to convey, from subtle head movements to their tone of voice.

Rae let out a small sigh before speaking up, “Well…it started out with me being surrounded by bodies…and that dark me – the one I saw when I touched that relic on the Moon – aiming the Ace at you. You were beaten up really bad, like back at the prison. I would try to get to you, but I’d be dragged back by these ropes of Darkness. And every time I have this dream, the bodies become the bodies of people I know…” Rae subconsciously clutched the bar of the railing tightly, “And it hurts because…I’m terrified of something like that becoming a reality. I know that if something bad happens and I lose you or anyone else, I won’t be able to do anything about it. I can’t bring them back like I did before…and the thought of not being able to save everyone terrifies me…the thought of losing you again terrifies me…”

Rae felt tears threatening to fall as the memories of the dreams swirled in her head but was snapped back to reality by Cayde wrapping his arms around her and pulling her close to him. “Rae…do you remember what I told you back at the prison? What happened wasn’t on you. Saving everyone isn’t just on you either. You’re not alone in this thing. Me, Blaze, Adam, Ikora, Zavala…we have your back. That’s never gonna change.” Rae felt Cayde’s hold on her tighten slightly, “And I’m never leaving you again. That’s a promise you can hold me to.” Rae took a moment to take in what Cayde said before wrapping her own arms around him and hugged him tightly, “Thank you…”

“Anytime, Sunrae.”

Rae felt the metal plates of Cayde’s mouth press against her forehead in a kiss before being suddenly picked up bridal-style by the Hunter, catching her off-guard, “C-Cayde?! Wha-?”

“Well, we can’t have the Fireteam Vanguard missin’ out on sleep, now can we?” Cayde remarked proudly as he carried Rae towards her apartment, “Plus, I’m stayin’ with you to make sure you don’t have anymore nightmares.” Rae was about to protest, not wanting to burden Cayde, but was cut off before she could even say a word, “Nope! I’ve made up my mind. Besides, Colonel can hold down the fort.” Rae let out a somewhat playful sigh, knowing full well that when Cayde makes up his mind about something, there’s no changing it. But she’d be lying if she said being near Cayde didn’t calm her down. Little did she know that she would need every ounce of energy that night’s sleep would bring her for the craziness of the next day.

_To Be Continued…_


	2. A Shocking Encounter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rae and Cayde wake up to a commotion in the Bazaar. Turns out a new Guardian, Jade Hydrani, is causing trouble for other Guardians. Everyone soon learns something very interesting about the Kinderguardian and Adam gets an idea on how to deal with the troublemaker.

Rae slowly opened her eyes as sunlight filtered in through the curtains of her room. Cayde had fallen asleep beside her, the two still in their armour, and Rae could see the lights of his mouth glow faintly as the odd soft snore escaped him. Rae chuckled softly and was about to doze off again when-

##  **_*C R A S H ! ! !*_ **

_***Z-Z-ZAP!*** _

The two jolted awake at the commotion outside. “What the Hellmouth was that?!” Cayde exclaimed as Ghost popped up beside Rae, “Uh, Rae? Incoming call from Ikora.”

“Patch it through.” Rae replied, rubbing the sleep from her eyes as she heard her mentor’s voice come through Ghost, “Rae. I take it the noise woke you up?”

“Yep. What’s the issue?”

“I’ll explain when you get down here. Can you meet us in the Bazaar?”

“On our way.” A small chime came from Ghost as the call was ended.

“What’s going on?” Cayde asked as the two quickly left Rae’s apartment. “No clue. Ikora said she’ll bring us up to speed when we get to the Bazaar.” Rae replied as they headed out to the Bazaar, “Oh wow…”

Rae watched with eyes wide in disbelief at the scene before her and Cayde. Ikora and Blaze were standing near Ikora’s post as Adam and Zavala were in a dog pile on top of a figure with flashes of arc energy flickering across them. Floating in front of Ikora and Blaze, also watching the two Titans in a dog pile, was a Ghost with a dark, steel blue shell that was adorned with gold and dark teal markings and a bright teal eye. “I…do we wanna know?” Cayde asked as the duo approached Blaze and Ikora. Blaze glanced at the duo and the apartment building they came from before a look of realisation crossed her face and she began to snicker. “Mind out of the gutter, Blaze.” Rae rolled her eyes. The Ghost floated up to Rae, “You are Vanguard Rae?” The Ghost asked, earning a nod from Rae, “I must apologise for my Guardian’s behaviour. I swear she’s usually quite friendly and not as…rowdy, for lack of a better term. I am Justim, Ghost to Jade Hydrani.”

Rae glanced past Justim and was able to get a better look at the figure underneath Adam and Zavala. The figure seemed to be a female Awoken and had medium length, messy, dark aegean blue hair with a dark teal stripe and some of the bangs partially covering her left eye, bright indigo eyes, ice blue skin, and a dark teal markings on her cheek. The Guardian, who Rae assumed was Jade Hyrdrani, was growling in frustration as she discharged arc energy in an attempt to get the two Titans off her. “What’s with the restraints?” Cayde asked. “Well, Adam wanted me to help him with an early morning patrol on Io – even though I wanted to sleep in today…” Blaze began, shooting Adam a quick glare before continuing, “When we spotted this Warlock Kinderguardian causing trouble for other Fireteams. Adam called Zavala asking what we should do with her and he said to bring her here. Let me tell ya, she did NOT want to come here. I haven’t been hit with so much arc energy since that Crucible match where the entire opposing team were arc subclasses. She may be a newbie, but she’s already pretty good at using her powers.”

“When she arrived here, she tried to escape. Adam and Zavala managed to corner her here in the Bazaar. The noise you heard was her attempting to use Stormtrance to fight back, but they managed to pin her down before she did any real damage. Thankfully, she’s caused no injuries to herself or others.” Ikora added.

“Let me talk to her. Maybe I can calm her down?” Rae suggested. “Good luck.” Blaze motioned for the Fireteam Vanguard to go ahead.

Rae approached the two Titans on top of the young Warlock, “How are you two holding up?”

“Eh, I’ve had worse.” Adam smiled. “I wish you luck in talking to Hydrani.” Zavala added, “She doesn’t seem too keen on listening to authority.”

“Wonder who that reminds me of?” Rae chuckled. “I know you’re talking about me!!” Blaze called from behind, “And I wasn’t THIS bad!!”

Rae just chuckled before kneeling down in front of Jade who had stopped struggling and was just glaring at Rae, “Jade Hydrani, right? I’m Raegalianis Drakyx, Fireteam Vanguard. But you can call me Rae.”

“Oh, great. Another Vanguard.” Jade rolled her eyes, “If you’re gonna try to convince me to stay in your hoity-toity tower here like your other Guardian buddies did, you’re wasting your time. I ain’t interested. And can you ask your buddies here to get off me?! This is excessive, I wasn’t even causing that much trouble.”

“You tried to use your super within the Tower.” Ikora countered.

“Well, I didn’t know it was against the rules. I just got here!”

“You kept launching storm grenades at fellow Guardians when they were dealing with Taken on Io.”

“It was just a prank!”

“You managed to lead a group of Taken, Cabal, and Vex to a single location, get them to fight, and got another Fireteam caught in the crossfire.”

“You can’t prove that was me!”

“You somehow managed to acquire a Cabal Interceptor and chased and antagonised Guardians across Io.”

“Ok, that was pretty funny though. You gotta admit it!”

“Anyway!” Rae cut in, interrupting her fellow Warlocks, “How about we have a civil discussion? Without attacking anyone?”

Jade sighed, _“Fiiiiiine.”_

Adam and Zavala got off Jade as Rae helped her to her feet. Jade groaned as she stretched, stiff from being trapped under two heavily armoured Titans. As she got up, Rae was able to get a better look at her robes. Jade wore steel blue robes with gold and dark teal markings on the chest piece and dark indigo rims. Iron pads donned her shoulders with the left pad serving as a bond projecting a teal dragon. The left sleeve of her robes was torn, revealing black gloves with a gold rim. The robes had a dark grey midriff. The lower part of her robes was steel blue with curved, dark teal markings and a gold rim on the top, and a dark steel blue loincloth with a dark indigo rim and a dark teal Warlock symbol. She had dark grey pants and dark indigo and steel blue boots with a gold and dark teal rims and iron soles.

“You okay?” Rae asked. “Lemme check.” Jade smirked as arc bolts launched from her fingertips towards Rae who cried out in pain as the bolts jumped from her to Blaze, Cayde and Ikora. Jade took this as a chance to escape and ran for it, ducking and weaving between Adam and Zavala to avoid being trapped again and ran down to the Annex. “Hey! Get back here!” Rae managed to shake off the effects of Jade’s Chain Lightning and gave chase to the Kinderguardian. Jade looked over her shoulder upon hearing the footsteps of the others as she glided through the halls at top speed, “Ha! You think you can catch me? You’ll never- _WHOA!!_ ”

A blur of gold and Jade felt the Light get knocked out of her as she tumbled to the ground. Before she could get up, she heard a voice say, “Nighty night, punk.” Before being knocked out by a blunt object hitting against her head. Rae, followed by the rest of her Fireteam, Justim, and the Vanguard, turned the corner and saw an unconscious Jade and Marcia coming out of her Starlight form. Marcia picked up the unconscious Guardian and turned to face everyone, “You guys lose somethin’?”

“I can’t believe I’m saying this; nicely done, Marcia.” Ikora nodded. “Ah, was nothin’.” Marcia shrugged as she handed Jade to Adam, “The kid was bein’ too noisy, so I shut her up.”

“Well, regardless of the reason, thanks for the help.” Rae gave Marcia a thumbs up. “No prob.” Marcia grinned before her attention was caught by the mark on Jade’s face, “Hello, what’ve we here?”

“What’s up?”

“Looks like we ain’t the last two. We’re the last three.” Marcia motioned to the marking on Jade’s face; it was a triangle with a round point and a curved bottom, a single circle underneath and five circles within it, “This is the mark for Tribe Scale. Your new friend here is a Paragonialan.”

“For real?!” Blaze exclaimed. “If that’s the case, it’s even more important we keep an eye on her.” Rae muttered. “We can’t do that if she keeps trying to cause trouble wherever she goes.” Ikora added, “She needs to be taught discipline.”

“Discipline, eh…?” Adam seemed to think for a minute before smiling, “I think I know who could help with that.”

“Who?” Rae asked, a puzzled yet curious look on her face.

“Well that depends…who’s up for a trip to the Iron Temple?”

_To Be Continued…_


	3. Snow & Wolves & Hunters, Oh My!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fireteam Paralight, Cayde and Jade arrive at Felwinter Peak in hopes that living with the Iron Lords will teach Jade some discipline. But after meeting Shiro-4, Rae suddenly realises that this might not be the best idea.

“So lemme see if I got this straight: I’m one of the last Paragonialans – the others being you and the jerk who knocked me out – and I was part of one of the six tribes called ‘Scale’ which was mainly located around Jupiter. We have the ability to revive people thanks to the mark on our cheek. And unless we’re killed or die of a sickness, we are immortal and live forever.”

“Yep, sounds right.” Rae replied.

“Okay, so I only have one question… **WHY THE HELL ARE WE ON A SNOW-CAPPED MOUNTAIN?!** ” Jade yelled out of frustration. Fireteam Paralight, Cayde and Jade were hiking up Felwinter Peak, the snow falling lightly around them. “Well, you said you didn’t want to be in the Tower, right?” Cayde asked, “So Adam decided that sending you here would be a good compromise.”

“Ikora and I decided that you needed to learn discipline. So, letting you stay with the Iron Lords might do the trick.” Rae added. “Why’s the Hunter Vanguard tagging along anyway?” Jade asked. “A scout of mine is stationed up here. Thought I’d pay him a visit.” Cayde replied, “Plus I’ll take any excuse to leave the Tower.”

“Man…how long has it been since the whole SIVA fiasco?” Blaze asked.

“About…three years I think?” Adam replied.

“It’s been that long? Hey, that reminds me! Efrideet still owes me a rematch for our last arm wrestle; she cheated last time!”

“Sure she did.” Rae chuckled, shaking her head. “First chance I get, I’m bookin’ it outta here.” Jade grumbled to herself. “Give this place a chance. Maybe it won’t be so bad!” Justim replied, popping up beside her. “I doubt that-” Jade was cut off by the sound of howling and barking as a small group of wolves came rushing over a hill of snow and pounced on Adam, sending him sliding a few feet in the snow. Jade went to grab her sidearm but stopped when she heard Adam laughing. That’s when she noticed that the wolves weren’t attacking him but were licking at his face. “Ack! Hey guys! How’ve you been! Ah, hey! Stop, that tickles! Haha! I missed you guys too!” Adam laughed as he made a futile attempt to escape the barrage of wolf kisses. Before Jade could question anything, a whistle was heard alongside the sound of an approaching Sparrow. As the Sparrow crested the hill, a familiar yellow cloak made of Fallen house banners was billowing behind the rider. The wolves responded to the whistle and hopped off Adam, allowing the slobber-covered Titan to get to his feet, and ran over to where the Sparrow stopped. “Well, look who managed to get out of the Tower.” A familiar orange Exo said as he got off the Sparrow. “Good to see you too, Shiro.” Cayde gave Shiro a high-five, which Shiro returned with a light chuckle before glancing at Adam, who was wiping the slobber off his face, “You alright, Lord Adam?”

“Yeah, I’m good! A little wolf slobber never killed anyone.” Adam laughed as he shook the slobber from his hands before noticing Shiro just staring at him, “Huh? What’s with that loo- oh! Saladin didn’t tell you I broke my vow, huh? Yeah, I talk now.”

“Huh…cool.” Shiro shrugged. “Wow, you can barely hide your excitement, eh?” Blaze chuckled. “You’re right. _Oh wow, Adam. This is a major historic event. I’m honoured to witness this._ ” Shiro replied in monotone, earning a snicker from Cayde and an eyeroll from Blaze, before turning to Jade, “So is this the Kinderguardian that the Vanguard are sending us?”

“Saladin told you then?” Rae asked, kneeling down to give one of the wolves a head scratch. Shiro nodded before motioning for the group to follow, “Saladin’s waiting back up at the temple.”

As the small group of Guardians trekked up the mountain through the snow, Shiro broke the silence, “To be honest, I’m surprised you haven’t been fully locked up in that Tower after what happened in the Reef. Speaking of…” Shiro gave Cayde a slap behind the head. “OW! What was-?!” Cayde exclaimed but was cut off by Shiro, “That’s for being an idiot and nearly getting yourself killed. You’re lucky Lady Rae was there.”

“You heard about that?” Cayde asked, rubbing where Shiro had hit him.

“Of course I heard what happened. Every Hunter in the system heard what happened. How could they not hear that their Vanguard was killed by the ex-Awoken prince and was brought back to life by the Fireteam Vanguard. Kind of a big deal. I’m sure even Andal would’ve given you a slap for what you did. Actually, I better give you another on his behalf. Hold still.” Shiro went to raise his hand but was cut off by Cayde ducking behind Rae, “Nonononono! I, uh…I get the message. Don’t do dumb stuff. Got it.”

“So what’s with Patchwork McGrumpy?” Jade asked Rae. “That’s Shiro-4. He’s the Hunter Vanguard scout and is tasked with gathering intel and eliminating Eliksni threats.”

“You know,” Shiro began, glancing back at Jade, “When we heard a troublesome Guardian was coming here, I didn’t think you’d be this short.”

Jade suddenly stopped in her tracks and glared at Shiro. “Uh oh…” Justim muttered, floating over to Rae and hiding behind her. “What. Did you. Just say?” Jade asked through gritted teeth, her left eye twitching slightly. Shiro shrugged, “I just said that you’re shorter than I thought-” Shiro was cut off by Jade lunging at him but managed to dodge out of the way. “Call me short again! I dare you!” Jade made several more attempts to tackle Shiro who just seemed to dodge each one effortlessly. “During my time as Jade’s ghost,” Justim began, still hiding behind Rae, “I’ve learned that the one thing that will always get Jade to beat you to a pulp, is to call her short. She hates being called short.” Rae glanced at Jade – who was still trying to attack Shiro - and could see what Justim was saying. Blaze was the shortest of the Fireteam at 5.4ft. Comparing Blaze to her, Jade seemed at about 5ft.

Rae was brought out of her thoughts by the sound of something falling on the snow. She looked up to see an angry, flailing Jade lying face-down in the snow with Shiro keeping her down by placing a foot on her back. Jade struggled for a while before stopping. “You done?” Shiro asked. “Hang on.” Jade said before struggling a bit more and then giving up, “Okay, I’m done.” Shiro nodded and took his foot off her, turning to walk away. Jade got to her feet and smirked before charging at Shiro, “ **GOT YOU NOW, YOU-!** ” Jade was interrupted by Shiro suddenly raising a clenched fist without turning around. Jade’s momentum carried her face into Shiro’s fist, causing her to stumble back a few feet dizzily before falling backwards into the snow. Shiro glanced over his shoulder, “I appreciate the stubborn recklessness. You would’ve made a good Hunter.” Jade could practically hear the smirk in his voice as he continued up the mountain. “You know what…?” Jade began as she got to her feet, brushing the snow off her, “I think I WILL stay here.”

“Wait, really?” Rae asked, a surprised expression on her face which quickly dropped upon seeing Jade’s smirk. “Yeah…’cause I ain’t leaving until I kick that guy’s ass!” Jade chuckled as she followed the Hunter to the Iron Temple. Rae felt the colour drain from her face as she watched the evilly chuckling Warlock trek through the snow.

“Oh Traveller, what have we done…?”

_To Be Continued…_


	4. When Sparks Fly & Snow Falls

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A few weeks after Jade’s arrival at the Iron Temple, the young Kinderguardian is still hellbent on winning a fight against Shiro. But it’s soon revealed that they might have bigger problems.

_A few weeks later…_

“We’ve succeeded in activating and rearming Rasputin’s Seraph Bunkers. The Almighty will be in range by tomorrow afternoon.”

The four Vanguards stood around the meeting table discussing current issues. “Cool. I’ll grab some Spicy Ramen to eat while watchin’ the light show.” Cayde replied. “We should have civilians be ready to take cover in the event of stray debris hitting the Tower.” Rae added, “We can’t afford to have casualties after putting so much work into this.”

“Not gonna lie. Kinda hoping a piece hits the Guardian Games trophy.”

“Are you still angry about the Hunter’s loss?” Ikora asked, a slight smirk appearing on her face.

“Hey, quit it with the smirkin’, Ikora. At least we were first once. We’re gonna win next year!”

“We’ll see.” Ikora chuckled, “Back to business though. Rae, how’s our new addition doing at the Iron Temple?”

“Well…” Rae went through a small pile of papers, “Training with Saladin – needs improvement, overly confident. Challenged Shiro – lost. Following day: Training with Saladin – improving slightly, still overly confident. Challenged Shiro – lost. Following day: Training with Saladin – improving very slightly, still overly confident, seems to avert from putting effort into training aside from her battles with Shiro. Challenged Shiro – lost. Challenged Shiro again – lost agai- you get the gist.”

Ikora let out a small sigh. Zavala just shook his head. Cayde was snickering at the thought of Jade getting her butt handed to her by Shiro. “Paralight are planning to return to the Iron Temple to check up on her today.” Rae continued. “Without a stowaway this time.” Zavala glanced at Cayde who just shrugged. “You told me you had permission!” Rae whisper yelled at Cayde. “I did! I had YOUR permission. That counts, right?” Cayde replied, shooting finger guns at Rae. Rae just sighed and shook her head, trying not to smile at Cayde’s ridiculousness, as she left the room, “We’ll be back later today.”

“Love you!!” Cayde called after her, chuckling to himself. “How you won her heart is one of the many unsolved mysteries of the universe.” Ikora muttered, shaking her head.

* * *

**“TAKE THIS!!”**

Jade lobbed a storm grenade at Shiro who swiftly dodged as a lightning bolt struck the snowy ground where he previously stood. The two were sparring on Felwinter Peak a few miles down from the temple. Shiro sprinted at Jade who braced herself to stop the incoming tackle but at the last minute, Shio slid across the snow, knocking Jade’s feet out from under her. He slid a few more feet before jumping up and throwing a flux grenade at Jade. Jade spotted the incoming projectile and used her ionic blink to dodge out of the way just in time as the grenade exploded, making a small dent in the snow. _‘That was a little too close…’_ Jade thought as she breathed a sigh of relief, not noticing Shiro lunging at her, landing a Blink Strike before disappearing. Jade grimaced in pain before glancing around, enraged. “Why you…!!” Jade growled as she unleashed her Stormtrance, spinning around in an attempt to try and hit the invisible Shiro. The Exo let out a pained grunt as the arc beam hit him, sending him skidding back a few feet and dropping the invisibility. “Got you now!!” Jade grinned as she dashed towards Shiro in an attempt to tackle him to the ground. Shiro managed to swiftly dodge as Jade kept going, carried by momentum, and slammed into a nearby tree. She stumbled back a bit, dizzy from the impact, but shook it off and turned to glare at Shiro…only to be buried under a pile of snow that fell from the tree, her arms being the only things visible. “Not. A word.” Jade’s muffle voice growled from the snow pile.

“Need a hand?” Shiro offered.

“I can free myself, thank you very much!”

Shiro watched as Jade flailed her arms about in an attempt to free herself from the snow, her arms flopping back down after struggling for a while. With a defeated and frustrated sigh, he held her arm out. Shiro shook his head as he took Jade’s arm to help her out of the snow pile.

“Sike!”

Shiro felt himself being dragged forward as he went headfirst into the snow, Jade climbing out of the pile afterwards while laughing triumphantly, “I beat you! That counts, right? That totally counts! Oh, I can’t believe that actually worked!”

“I’ll admit, a good use of improvisation.” Shiro said as he got up out of the snow, brushing some of it off.

“But I totally won that fight, right?”

“Sure.”

“Whoo!” Jade began to do a strange little jig. “What are you doing?” Shiro asked, folding his arms as he watched Jade. “It’s my victory dance!” Jade beamed as she finished the dance with a spin and a peace sign.

“You look ridiculous.”

“H-hey!! I do not!”

Shiro just let out a small chuckle as he began walking, “Come on. Let’s head back to the temple.”

Jade pouted, grumbling under her breath, as she followed Shiro back.

As they walked back, Shiro suddenly stopped in his tracks, holding up a hand. “What’s up?” Jade asked. Shiro motioned to a cliff overlooking the area where the two Guardians were, where a few figures were standing there seeming to be conversing with each other.

“Who are they…?” Jade asked quietly.

“Don’t know.”

“Do you think they can see us?”

The figures seemed to stop talking and stared down at Shiro and Jade.

“Forget I asked…”

One of the figures seemed to summon a large staff to their hand and slammed the bottom down hard against the ground, causing a loud booming sound to echo across the area, before turning and walking away, disappearing from view. “What was-?” Before Shiro could finish his sentence, a low rumbling was heard from behind the two. Jade glanced behind her and her eyes went wide, “Uh…Shiro?” Shiro spun around and saw a wave of white beginning to descend down a slope behind them. The noise the staff produced had been enough to cause an avalanche. “Run!” Shiro yelled as the two began to sprint away. Jade glanced to the side as she ran and spotted a cave in the cliff face. “This way!” Jade grabbed Shiro’s arm as they ran towards the cave. Jade heard the wave of snow roared louder and louder as it gained on them. “Hold on!” Jade grasped Shiro’s arm tightly as she used her ionic blink to teleport the both of them to the cave, the two of them tumbling into it just as the snow reached the entrance, piling up against it forming a wall of snow that blocked the entire opening. Jade groaned as she got to her feet, helping Shiro to his. “Thanks. You good?”

“Yeah, you?”

“Eh, could be worse. Nice thinking with the blink.”

“Well, it was that or be buried in the snow for the second time today. And I don’t think it would’ve ended with a victory dance.” Shiro chuckled at Jade’s attempt at humour, causing Jade to grin proudly before glancing back at the snowed-in entrance.

“Oh shanks…”

_To Be Continued…_


End file.
